Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mets Fans, Hope and Wisdom from Shawshank

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shawshank Redemption. Been a while since I watched it, but as spring training begins one quote from that movie/book stands out. It's when Red says to Andy:

"Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You better get used to that idea."

Never has a quote been more true for Mets fans than this one. For the last three seasons, we've been getting high on hope. Hope for no more injuries. Hope for smarter decisions. Hope for comebacks. Hope for turnarounds. Hope for financial rumors to be nothing more. Hope for firings. Hope for firings.

I'm sick of hope. And this spring we find ourselves hoping for one of the worst things: that the Mets won't be as bad as we think they will be.

Now my morbid demeanor will soon fade away as I will be sucked into the glory that is spring baseball. I'll get excited to watch some of the young players make a name for themselves in St. Lucie. I'll remember what fun it was to watch Ike Davis early on last season and how surprising R.A. Dickey was.

I'll even convince myself that the Mets can be competitive. I will have hope.

But unlike Andy Dufresne from Shawshank, I don't have a secret escape hidden behind a poster of Rita Hayworth.

However, there's a second half to the quote that I mentioned above. It's Andy's response to Red's depressed response:

"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."